The Golden State Warriors found a way to escape their first-round series with the Houston Rockets by winning Game 7 on the road last night. Buddy Hield went off for 33 points thanks to a red-hot 9-11 clip from three, while Steph Curry came alive in the fourth after a quiet first half to slam the door shut on a 103-89 win. The Warriors will now move on to face the Minnesota Timberwolves, who are fresh off a five-game beatdown of the Los Angeles Lakers in their own first-round series.
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Both the Warriors and Wolves have been among the NBA’s hottest teams since the trade deadline. Golden State has looked like a completely different team since adding Jimmy Butler, while Minnesota overcame a slow start to the season as Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo found a way to fit into last year’s Western Conference runners-up.
This series is going to be spicy for a number of reasons. One is the mutual animosity shared by Draymond Green and Rudy Gobert, who have famously tussled on multiple occasions. Hopefully Draymond doesn’t try to put the 7-foot Frenchman in a headlock this time around, especially after he spent the first round punching Rockets players.
Another is Adidas taking a shot at Under Armour-sponsored star Steph Curry on behalf of their own athlete, Anthony Edwards, saying on social media, “AE hungry for some Curry…” after the Wolves wrapped up their series.
Despite how good the Wolves looked in Round 1, self-professed Warriors fan LeSean McCoy thinks his Dubs are going to continue their winning ways, and he said so on The Facility this morning.
“We are not the Lakers. We do not play that effort like Luka,” he said in reference to widespread criticism over Luka Doncic’s conditioning and defensive effort.
McCoy was in a frenzy as he passionately defended the Warriors’ championship mentality, which included a speech from Draymond to the team, over what he saw as the softness of the Lakers. Given the way both series played out, it’s difficult to argue with him.
An emotional team meeting might have saved Golden State’s season
These Warriors may not be on the level of the world-conquering teams from the height of the dynasty’s heyday, but they’re not going to go down without a fight. They proved that when they unexpectedly won the title in 2022, and they proved it again in taking out the second-seeded Rockets after dropping Games 5 and 6.
Steph is 37. Draymond is 35, and so is Butler. None of the three are at their athletic peak any longer. They know what it takes to win, though. Hield spoke after his incredible Game 7 performance about how the trio of vets led a team meeting in the lead-up to the game, with Draymond taking responsibility for losing his cool in Game 6 and hurting his team and Butler assuring the team that they were right where they needed to be.
“This is who the Warriors are: champions! We are not the Lakers.”@CutOnDime25 is ecstatic over his Warriors Round 1 win pic.twitter.com/iW4Z8H2qVJ
— The Facility (@TheFacilityFS1) May 5, 2025
McCoy predicted that the Warriors would win this series in six games in part because they’re in Minnesota’s heads over how they’ve handled them in the past. The Warriors are too smart and too battle-tested to make that assumption, especially after they saw how Gobert got revenge on Luka in Game 7 for the Slovenian’s game-winning three over him in last year’s Western Conference Finals.
This series is going to be a war, and the Warriors will need to use every ounce of their veteran savvy to be the ones still standing in the end. Steph is still nursing a sprained thumb, Butler is still recovering from a pelvic contusion, and Draymond is on the precipice of being suspended if he continues picking up technical and/or flagrant fouls.
According to FanDuel, the Wolves are -178 to win the series, while the Warriors are +150. As we’ve seen time and again though, you can never count the Warriors out.
